India, April 5 -- A constitutional amendment to raise the 50% cap on the Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Other Backward Class (OBC) quota and a new Right to Apprenticeship Act are among the guarantees listed in the Congress's manifesto released on Friday ahead of the April-June Lok Sabha polls.

The party pledged to enact a law to provide reservations in private educational institutions for these communities as well as a nationwide census to enumerate the castes and sub-castes and their socio-economic conditions. "Based on the data, we will strengthen the agenda for affirmative action," the manifesto said.

The manifesto underlined that OBC, SC, and ST constitute nearly 70% of India's population, but their representation i...